Human head immobilization unit for panoramic x-ray machines



- July 2-1, 1970 I A. F. MORLAN HUMAN HEAD IMMOBILIZATION UNIT FORPANORAMIC X-RAY MACHINES Filed April 23, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIGURE 2.

FIG URE' FIGURE 4.

INVENTOR.

ALVA F. MORLAN BY ATTORNEY July 21, 1970 A. F. MORLAN HUMAN HEADIMMOBILIZATION UNIT FOR PANORAMIC X-RAY MACHINES Filed April 25, 1968 2SheetsSheet 2 'HHI III

FIGURE 7.

p v p I I F GURE 5 mvsmozm ALVA F. MORLAN A'r'roRNEir FIGURE 6 FIGUREIO- United States Patent 3,521,057 HUMAN HEAD IMMOBILIZATION UNIT FORPANORAMIC X-RAY MACHINES Alva F. Morlan, 7245 Wyandotte St., KansasCity, Mo. 64114 Filed Apr. 23, 1968, Ser. No. 723,531 Int. Cl. G03b41/16 US. Cl. 250-50 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A pair oftoothed racks slidably mounted horizontally through a housing; a pinionengaging the toothed racks to move them in opposite directions; thehousing being securable to an X-ray machine below the chin of a personpositioned thereon for a panoramic picture film; a pair of arms; each ofsaid arms being secured to one end portion of a respective toothed rack;each of said arms being slidable on the end portion of the oppositerespective toothed rack; said arms being projected horizontally andtransversely to said toothed racks and outwardly and upwardly to clampagainst the persons head when said pinion is turned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION My invention is preferably adaptable to besecured to an X-ray machine for example US. Pat. 3,045,118 for theimproved immobilization of the human head while making a panoramic X-raypicture of a portion of a human head particularly all of the teeth inthe human head illustrated on one picture strip of film.

One specific function of my improved invention is to prevent a personfrom moving the head while being rapidly X-rayed in panoramic form.

The X-ray film holder for panoramic film pictures moves in a circulardirection and very close to the head of a person often causing a personto involuntarily move the head and spoil a portion of the picture film.

The following patents were found in a preliminary search, 2,532,967; and2,717,314; each of which would obstruct the rotation of an X-rayprojector and film holder while making a panoramic picture film. Thementioned patents do not hold the chin, and sides of the head to preventmovement thereof.

SUMMARY My improvement rapidly adjusts to different sizes of human headswith equal movement of the arms with head clamps about sides of the headto center the head with the pivotal rotation of the panoramic filmholder and X-ray projector.

The chin rest is old but the combination of a chin rest and arms withclamps to the sides of a persons head has been found most effective toprevent head movement upwardly, downwardly or to either side whilemaking a panoramic X-ray picture film.

This invention is for dentists and specialists in X-ray procedure toprevent more than one complete X-ray panoramic picture film per personto determine the condition of the the teeth and possible extractionthereof.

The improvement is secured to an X-ray chair portion located below thechin of a person seated for an X-ray picture so that the X-ray projectorand film holder may freely turn or rotate about the persons head withthe arm clamp portions projected upwardly close to the sides of thehead.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS This invention will be more fullyunderstood with reference to the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a perspective of an X-ray panoramicmachine having a chin rest for preferable attachment of my improvement.

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a side elevation of my improved human headimmobilization unit preferably secured to a support rod of a chin restof the machine shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating a front elevation of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a view illustrating a plan of FIG. 3 with the X-ray projectorand film holder of FIG. 1 positioned to turn or rotate about the head ofa person.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on lines 5-5 of FIG. 6 showing thepinion engaging the slidable toothed racks locked against movement by aset screw.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on lines 66 of FIG. 7, showing thehousing with slidable toothed racks, pinion, shaft, and control knob.

FIG. 7. is a view illustrating the plan of the improved human headimmobilization unit.

FIG. 8 is a view illustrating an inverted plan of the housing, guideplate, and screws therefor.

FIG. 9 is a view illustrating a side elevation of FIG. 7.

FIG. 10 is a view in section taken on lines 1010 of FIG. 9 with thepinion removed.

One means of mounting the improved head immobilization unit 12 below thechin of a person seated in a chair for panoramic X-ray follows:

The example FIG. 1 and preferred panoramic X-ray machine 11 forsupporting my human head immobilization unit 12 has a chair 13 with afront cross-rod 14 pivoted at 15 and latched at 16 to hold a person inthe chair and support rod 18.

The support rod 18 has a horizontal portion 19 thereon for preferredsupport of my housing 20. The chin rest 17 and support rod 18- areadjustable at 21.

The X-ray projector 22 and film holder 23 are preferably supported on anarm 24 pivoted at 25, and are turned on pivot 25 about a human head 26restable on chin rest 17 for a panoramic X-ray picture film within thefilm holder 23. A slot 27 in the film holder is provided for thereception of the X-rays from the projector 22 to the film.

The means of support of my human head immobilization unit 12 has ahousing 20 with a preferable channel 28 on the lower face 29 for thereception of the horizontal portion of support rod 18. The channel 28extends across the lower face 29 opening on the bottom and opposite endsof the housing 20 to receive horizontal portion 19 of support rod 18. Abottom plate 30 is preferably secured to the lower face 29 of thehousing 20 with screws 31.

Set screws 32 in the bottom plate 30 are set against the support rodportion 19 to prevent relative movement between the housing 20 and thesupport rod 18.

The housing 20 may be suitably secured to other portions of a panoramicX-ray machine by a different means for a different make not shown; butmust be located below the chin 33 of a human head 26 of a person seatedin a chair for a panoramic picture film.

A bent plate 34 is secured to the bottom plate 30 and extended forwardlywith a slot 43- to receive and help stabilization of the support rod 18.

A pair of toothed racks 35 are slidably mounted through the housing 20in parallelism and are projected through both sides of the housing 20. Ashaft 36 is mounted uprightly in the housing 20 with the lower portionthereof projected into a recess 37 and secured to a pinion 38 located inthe recess 37.

The pinion 38 spaces and engages both toothed racks 35 to drive them inopposite directions. The upper portion of shaft 36 is projected abovethe housing 20 and is secured to a knob 39 for manual turning to slidethe toothed racks 35 in opposite directions.

A pair of arms 40 are mounted on opposite end portions of the toothedracks 35. Each arm 40 is secured to one end portion of a respectivetoothed rack 35. Each arm 40 is slidable on the opposite respectivetoothed rack 35. Both arms 40 are projected horizontally andtransversely to the toothed racks 35 toward the human head 26 and thenupwardly to be clampable against the sides of the human head 26 of aperson when the pinion 38 is turned therefor. A set screw 41 is a meansfor locking the toothed racks 35 in clamped position.

The teeth 42 of the toothed racks 35 may be located on a portion of thelength thereof to limit the desired movement of the arms 40 for openingand closing to clamp on different heads 26.

Indicia for recording purposes may be located on the housing to show theposition of the knob 39 relative to the size of a human head 26.

The toothed racks 35 are slidable members. Teeth 42, pinion 38, shaft36, and knob 39 are a means for moving the slidable members 35 and arms24 into a clampable position on a human head 26 as claimed in thefollowing claims.

I claim:

1. A human head immobilization unit for panoramic X-ray picture filmmachines, the machine having a chin rest thereon; the human headimmobilization unit comprising inv combination:

(a) a housing;

(b) a pair of toothed racks;

(c) said toothed racks being slidably mounted horizontally through saidhousing in parallelism;

(d) a pinion;

(e) said pinion being recessed in said housing;

(f) said pinion spacing and engaging said toothed racks to move them inopposite directions;

(g) means for turning said pinion;

(h) said housing being securable to an X-ray machine below the chin of aperson positioned thereon for a panoramic X-ray picture fiilm;

(i) a pair of arms;

(j) said arms being positioned transversely on opposite end portions ofsaid racks;

(k) each of said arms being slidable on the end portion of a respectivetoothed rack;

(1) each of said arms being secured to one end portion of a respectiveopposite rack;

(m) and said pair of arms being projected outwardly and upwardly to beclampable against the sides of the mentioned persons head when saidpinion is turned by said means.

2. A human head immobilization unit for panoramic X-ray picture filmmachines having a chin rest thereon; the human head immobilization unitcomprising in combination:

(a) a housing;

(b) a pair of toothed racks;

(c) said toothed racks being slidably mounted horizontally through bothends of said housing in parallelism;

(d) a pinion; I

(c) said pinion being recessed in said housing;

(f) said pinion engaging said toothed racks to move them in oppositedirections;

(g) a shaft;

(h) said shaft being uprightly mounted in said housing;

(i) said pinion being mounted on the projected lower end portion of saidshaft;

'(j) said shaft having its upper end portion projected from saidhousing;

(k) a knob;

(1) said knob being mounted on the upper projected end portion of saidshaft;

(m) said housing being clampable to a rod supporting a chin rest on anX-ray machine;

(11) a pair of arms;

(0) each of said arms being mounted transversely on opposite projectedend portions of said toothed racks;

(p) each of said arms being secured to one end portion of a respectivetoothed rack;

(q) each of said spaced anms being slidable on the end portions of theopposite respective toothed rack;

(r) said pair of arms projected horizontally and upwardly to clampagainst the mentioned head of a person when said pinion is manuallyturned in one direction by said knob;

(s) means to lock said arms in the mentioned clamped position.

3. A human head immobilization unit for panoramic X-ray picture filmmachines, the machine having a chin rest thereon; the human headimmobilization unit comprising in combination:

(a) a housing;

(b) a pair of toothed racks;

(c) said pair of toothed racks being slidable horizontally through saidhousing;

((1) a pinion;

(e) said pinion engaging said toothed racks to move them in oppositedirections;

(f) said housing being securable to an X-ray picture film machine belowthe chin of a person positioned on the machine for a panoramic picturefilm;

(g) a pair of arms;

(h) each of said arms being secured to one projected end portion of arespective toothed rack;

(i) each of said arms being slidable on the end portion of the oppositerespective toothed rack;

(j) and said arms being projected horizontally and transversely andupwardly from said toothed racks to clamp against opposite sides of thementioned persons head when said pinion is turned;

(k) and means to lock said arms in clamped position against a humanhead.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,452,816 11/1948 Wagner 269-3282,903,588 9/1959 Minnich 2505O X 3,099,441 7/1963 Ries 369328 3,364,3521/1968 Fry et a1 2505O ARCHIE R. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner A. L. BIRCH,Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

